


Candlelight

by orphan_account



Series: Alternate Meteor Canoodling [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Awkward First Times, Awkward Sexual Situations, Awkwardness, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, Fingering, Gender-neutral Reader, Hand Jobs, Massage, Other, actual smut doesn't start until like 6000 words in i'm so sorry, does this count as a slow burn???, gender neutral reader, i wrote instead of sleeping, karkat's here but just in passing, look it's awkward and embarrassing as fuck ok, tavros mentioned, we all about theese gn readers up in here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-09
Updated: 2019-07-09
Packaged: 2020-06-25 05:30:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19739263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: You noticed how tense Eridan looked, and so you offered to help him in a way you knew how! Unfortunately, you weren't clear about your plans, and that leads to some very, uh, awkward situations...





	Candlelight

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, baby's first smut! I noticed a bit of lacking in the Eridan/reader smuts out there, at least as far as them starting to dwindle in production, so I thought I'd add a little fuel to the fire if y'know what a mean wink wonk ;P I'd love some feedback if you have it in you, but otherwise, enjoy!
> 
> I have no idea why reader is on the meteor, it's au I guess, who knows dont ask cuz it's not me
> 
> and for the love of god if you see a typo please tell me this was not beta'd ok i wrote half of this in bed at 3 am

It had been about a month since you appeared on the meteor. Karkat and the rest of the trolls had seemed to come to terms with your presence, but a few, namely Eridan and Vriska, still liked to act as if it were your fault for existing. But, being the optimistic realist you were, you still tried to be kind to them despite their rudeness. It wasn’t _particularly_ hard considering you had dealt with people like them before at school, but there were still some days when you just wanted to slam the door to your designated “respiteblock” and scream into your makeshift bed.

Yesterday was one of those days, but you had begun to find that Tavros was a wonderful troll to be around when you needed a little pick-me-up. His interests were similar enough to your own nerdy inclinations if you discounted their strange, alien dynamics, but you were eager enough to learn about them. After all, you had always thought xenology to be quite an interesting theoretical field of study. You had spent a few hours in his room playing some game called Fiduspawn, something you found similar to Pokémon in some weird, horrific way. In the end, you were simply content to watch, seeing as Tavros had the upper hand with his ability to commune with the spawn…

In any case, he let you keep one of the unused host plushies, which you thought was very sweet.

Today, you were in one of the communal hang out spots and were using one of the alchemizers to try and recreate some cool stuff from Earth, specifically, one of those little paint brushes that held water in the handle so you wouldn’t have to keep another jar with you. You looked disdainfully at the strange little wooden water bottle you had just made and furrowed your brows in frustration, tossing it into the pile of other random crap you had accidentally made.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING, FUCKPOD?” You turned to see Karkat standing in the doorframe, looking at you skeptically with his hands drawn towards himself in disgust.

“Trying to alchemize a paintbrush,” you said as you turned back to your pile of junk, by now used to Karkat’s insults and realizing it was the way he spoke to everyone. In a weird way, it reminded you of the way you and your friends would greet each other with a plain, “Hey, bitch.”

Karkat walked up behind you and you looked up to see him eyeing your pile of garbage with a confused face. “WHAT KIND OF USELESS SHIT IS THIS?” Picking up your newly-created wooden water bottle, Karkat sneered and tossed it back, asking, “WHAT DO ANY OF THESE THINGS HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH PAINTBRUSHES?” 

You cringed at his loud tone and at the thought of having to explain the idea of a travel paintbrush to someone like Karkat. “It’s a… complicated brush…?”

Karkat rolled his eyes and walked over to the table, pulling out a chair and uncatchaloguing his comput- you mean _“husktop”_ \- with a huff. “WELL, WHATEVER,” he growled as he ran his start-up sequence, “WASTE YOUR FUCKING TIME _AND_ YOUR GRIST, JUST DON’T GET ME INVOLVED. I’M DOING SOMETHING THAT’S ACTUALLY _USEFUL_ , UNLIKE MY PRESENT, THINK PAN-ROTTING COMPANY.”

You rolled your eyes. Even if you had gotten mostly used to it, that didn’t mean you liked his “colorful” names for you. “Yeah, alright,” you said, once again turning back to your pile of junk and trying to figure out what would make a travel paintbrush. Karkat was silent for a moment before huffing again and furiously ticking away at his keys and doing something “useful.” Honestly, he was probably making another one of those lousy memos that you stopped bothering to read, both because they were pointlessly boring and because they didn’t really concern you.

Just as you were about to try combining that little ink-tube-thing from inside of a ballpoint pen with your paintbrush, Eridan walked in—well, more like strode in, seeing as how he couldn’t even walk without being a snob about it. Karkat groaned loudly and snapped his husktop shut, skedaddling away as Eridan approached the table, making you giggle a little at his silly scramble and earning a lovely middle finger from Karkat for it. Eridan simply grunted and rolled his eyes with a small grimace, muttering something about “stupid landwwellers.” As he walked around the table, he noticed you on the floor in front of the alchemizer with your pile of absolute trash and snarled at you, “Wwhat the glub are you doin here, human?”

“Alchemizing,” you chirped. “What does it look like I’m doing?”

“Bein an idiot.”

Alright, you set yourself up for that one. You frowned at Eridan and alchemized the ink-tube-thingy with your brush, creating an inkbrush, but it looked to be something you would use for Chinese brushwork, which you were admittedly pretty terrible at. You captchalogued it anyway so you wouldn’t look like a _complete_ idiot, though. You rummaged around in your bag for a few seconds, looking for more things that might make what you needed, but when you turned your head again, Eridan was still standing there, looking as grouchy as ever at you.

“Do you need something?” you asked him.

“Yeah, some coffee, so movve.” He waved his hands at you in a shooing motion and you scooted to the side. He stood for a moment, seemingly surprised you had actually done what he asked, but quickly recovered and made a mug of coffee. When he reached for his mug though, he seemed… stiffer than usual to you, as if it pained him, and you voiced this to him. He looked at you like you had just sprouted a new eye and growled, “Wwhy the fuck do you care?”

You shrugged and fiddled with another failed paintbrush before saying, “I don’t know, I just kinda do that to everyone? Y’know, care.” He sipped his coffee and eyed you suspiciously over the rim. You thought for a moment before an idea popped into your head. It was an odd one, and probably one he would reject outright and make him hate you even more, but if he accepted, it would help him and probably change his attitude—towards you at the very least—and if he didn’t, at least you would have offered, right? “Maybe I could… help you…?” you said cautiously.

“Help me wwith wwhat?” he snapped.

“T-the stiffness…? You know? Help you… relax?” By now, you head was turtled as far as it would go into your own neck, but instead of lashing at you, he seemed to warily consider your offer.

“Help me… ‘relax,’” he deadpanned.

You nodded carefully, trying your best to come off as neither offensive nor defensive, but you were pretty sure your turtled neck defeated the purpose. 

“Yeah, you look like you could use it.” You were trying not to blush to badly, after all, a massage isn’t anything to get that worked up over, but the way he was looking at you made it really hard not to be embarrassed about it.

His scrutinous yellow eyes seemed to search your face, probably for anything other that sincerity, but you really _did_ want to help him, so you knew he wouldn’t find anything. He nodded stiffly and a flash or violet graced his face for a moment, but it vanished immediately and he pointed at you threateningly, hissing, “But this had better not be some kinda trick or somfin or I swwear to cod I wwill cull you.” 

You captchalogued the rest of your junk and jumped up, suddenly feeling just a little giddy and frantically thinking of everything you would need with a twitchy finger on your chin. “O-okay, um, you just go back to your room—I mean respiteblock, go back to your respiteblock and I’ll… Well, I gotta run back to my room really quick and drop this off and get some stuff- Wait,” you stopped, turning to a now stunned Eridan. “Do you have a, uh, a—oh what’s the word? You trolls called it something else one time… A ‘loungebrick’…?”

“You mean a ‘loungeplank?’” he asked, looking like he was already regretting having agreed to spend more time in your presence.

“Uh, yeah, do you have one of those..? In your respiteblock, I mean.” He nodded, blushing and kind of looking like he wanted to back out of this, but you held your hands out as if calming a wild animal. “Ok, you just go back to your room and chill for a few minutes and I’ll be right back—well, no, I’ll be there. I’ll meet you at your door in a few minutes, you just—yeah.” And with that, you turned around and jogged out of the room in such a gait that would have rivaled Karkat’s awkward skedaddle in embarrassment points. You thought you heard Eridan mutter a “wwhat the fuck” as you crossed the door frame, but you heard some footfalls in the hallway behind you, so you hoped he was still up for this. 

Opening the door to your room, you scrambled in, trying to organize your thoughts and hoping you didn’t keep Eridan waiting too long. After all, you knew how impatient he was already, and awkwardly waiting around his own room for something that was already pretty stressful for a first-timer was the exact opposite of relaxing. At least, you didn’t think he had done this before. Who knew, he was a royal, he probably had servants or something that did this for him, but from the way he was acting, you would never think so. You grabbed the few candles you had alchemized a while back when you first arrived. You were bored and had a birthday candle in your pocket from when you arrived, so you tried experimenting with the alchemizer. Really, they were more like wax figurines with how detailed they were, but they had wicks so you knew they would work for their intended purpose. You captchalogued the three candles into your sylladex before remembering your other pile of junk which you dumped in the corner next to your pile of pillows, blankets, and a duvet which served as your makeshift bed. Makeshift because apparently trolls slept in slime and no one wanted to give up their couch…? Anyway, you were fine with it. It was cozy and squishy and you had been sleeping fine, so you weren’t complaining. 

Speaking of complaining, you needed some oil or something because you just knew Eridan would be complaining about being rubbed raw if you didn’t. Unfortunately, that meant you had to find some somewhere else because you knew for a fact that you didn’t have any. Making sure the rest of your sylladex was empty except for the candles, you jogged to what everyone kind of decided was the kitchen—or rather, the “nutrition block.” Man, these trolls really had some weird names for things. There weren’t many cabinets or anything, but they did have something akin to a replicator from Star Trek, so you just tapped a few buttons and—lo and behold, a little bottle of olive oil! Perfect! You captchalogued the oil and thought to make some matches too—because what’s the point of candles if you didn’t light them? Captchaloguing those too, you trotted back to where you knew Eridan’s room to be, if the hand-painted violet aquarius symbol on the door wasn’t enough of a hint. 

Knocking on the door, you straightened your hoodie as you prepared to wait patiently, but that didn’t turn out to be long as a the door slid open a few seconds later and you faced Eridan on the other side of the door jamb. You smiled warmly and he blushed a little, looking pretty unsure as he stepped to the side to let you into him room. It was the same size as yours with the same grey walls, ceiling, and floor, but he had quite a few more additions to his space than you did. There was some kind of pod thing leaking a green slime in one corner and in the opposite corner was a big pile of stabby-looking sticks and—wait, no. Were those wands…? Like Harry Potter? A large, violet, plush-and-yet-also-organic couch sat in the very center of the room, and in front of that looked to be a bookshelf mostly filled with thick books next to a computer desk.

“Are you sure about this..?” he asked.

You giggled quietly and nodded as calmly as sincerely as possible. “Really Eridan, it’s no problem for me. I’ve been doing this for years.” This caused him to blush a little more vibrantly and fidget in his spot, very much unlike his usual air of confidence. You decided to just get this awkward ball rolling and help him relax—that was what you were here to do, after all, and this certainly wasn’t helping. “So, uh, just undress to your comfort level and I’ll get set up, ok?” 

Queue more blushing, but he still sat down on the couch without comment. You heard some rustling of clothes as you set the candles around the room so they would offer the most light, lighting them as you went and casting a nice, warm glow that very much complimented the violet color scheme of the room. Once all the candles were lit, you walked back to the light switch next to the door and flicked it off, plunging the room into a cozy darkness that gradually lightened as your eyes adjusted to the candlelight. Eridan made a little noise, but you both silently agreed to ignore it with a little glare from Eridan. Finally, you took off your hoodie, leaving you in your favorite tank top and shorts as you started to warm up the oil with your hands.

“Ok, Eridan,” you said as you walked around to the front of the couch, “do you want to start out with something easy like your face or just jump right- _oh my god Eridan what the actual fuck?!”_ You quickly brought your hands up to your face, momentarily forgetting that your hands were covered in oil and quickly wiping at it with your forearms, but presently you were more concerned with the image of Eridan awkwardly lying naked on the couch with his hands above his head. Eridan jumped and covered himself, letting out a not-so-manly scream as you struggled to get the oil off your face with your shoulders without looking at him. 

_“Wwhat?! You said to undress to my comfort levvel!”_ he screeched, doing something on the couch to make it quietly squeak. 

_“Yeah!_ So I could give you a fucking _massage!_ What the fuck is _this?!_ ” You squinted your eyes shut and gestured with your arms as far away from your face as possible at where you thought the couch was. 

“Wwhat do you mean, _massage_ ?!” he yelled from behind you. You turned around to face him, even if you still weren’t looking at him. “You nevver said anyfin about a fuckin _massage!”_

_“Of course I did!”_

“ _No,_ you fuckin _didn’t!_ You wwere actin all embarrassed and awwkwward, wwhat wwas I supposed to think?!"

You paused in your mental spazzing and thought for a quick second. “Are you sure? I could have sworn-” You face paled in a realization that you knew showed past your arms, the kind of realization one would feel after remembering they had left the faucet running in a sink with a clogged drain they entire time they were on a week-long vacation. “Oh my god I didn’t.” Your knees kind of buckled and you wobbled in your spot, incredibly embarrassed and unsure of yourself. What do you do to fix this kind of thing? Saying sorry isn’t going to cut it! God, now he’s going to hate you forever now! 

You sank to the floor and groaned. At least now he would have a legit reason to hate you, anyway.

“Eridan, I am so fucking sorry I- oh my gosh I can’t believe- I…” This was terrible what are you even saying anymore?! _“Oh dear god help me.”_

Eridan sighed heavily to your side and you could very easily imagine him with his face in his hands with his elbows propped up on his knees in total confusion and embarrassment. Exactly how you wish you could be sitting right now, but the oil on your hands was way too greasy for your comfort right now, so you continued to sit uncomfortably with your arms straight out in front of you with your head tucked into your upper arms.

“Uh, do you want me to leave or…” you muttered.

Eridan sighed again and you heard him flop onto the couch, followed by a muffled, “No, I guess you can stay or wwhatevver, not like this can really get much worse.” You cautiously lifted your head out of your arms to see Eridan lying face-down on the couch with his clothes and his glasses on the floor next to him, really in exactly the way you had thought he would be before… all that.

“Do you, uh… do you want me to still help maybe…? I mean, I know I just made this really weird and I really didn’t mean to I just thought I was clear but I guess I wasn’t I just-” You exhaled quickly and “hmmed.” “I guess now I know why you were so reserved about all this…” Eridan made a noise somewhat between a groan and a growl, one you could understand to mean “shut the fuck up already.”

“Ugh, yeah, wwhy not? If you’re still wwillin to stay after all that, I don’t really see wwhy I should be stoppin you…” You carefully stood up, trying your hardest to not get any oil on the floor.

“Well, then, uh, I guess my question still stands…” Eridan only grunted in a questioning response. “Do you want to start out somewhere like your face or shoulders or something or just go right to your back…?

He rolled his shoulders a little and exhaled slowly with a quiet groan. “Do you think you could start on my shoulders?” 

“Mmhm. Do you want to sit up or stay there?” 

“... I don’t think I really wwant to showw my face for a little wwhile…” 

“Fair.” 

You started rubbing the oil in our hands to warm it up again, wondering if you should sit next to him on the edge of the couch or just lean over it. He was still butt-naked, and that kind of stuff didn’t really bother you so much—you were a mature young adult after all, he had just really startled you—but you weren’t sure he would be ok with that. “Do you mind if I kneel on the edge of the couch here..?”

“No, just lemme…” He mumbled before scooting to the back of the couch a little more and giving you a little more room to place your leg. You slowly lowered yourself onto the edge of the couch, trying not to startle him but also being forward enough to try to let him know you weren’t bothered my him or something..? Your leg was on his arm and touching his side—which was surprisingly cold—but he kind of flinched away, holding his stomach away from you. Man, how are you supposed to help him now? He’d be feeling tense and awkward the entire time. Maybe you should just leave?

You were about to say something about taking a raincheck and doing this some other time when the tension wasn’t as palpable, but then you saw him take a deep breath and try to relax himself into the cushions, allowing his side to lie flush with your leg. No, you couldn’t leave now, that was a trust thing you would recognize in any species. He was really opening himself up to you, you couldn’t just leave him now.

“Ok… I’m gonna touch your shoulders now. I tried to warm up the oil, but it still might be- well, no, it’ll be warm, never mind,” you corrected yourself, realizing that if his skin was that cool, the oil would surely be warm. He nodded and your brought your hands to his smooth shoulers, sending a little shiver down both of your spines at the temperature difference. You were just about to start rubbing when you felt an unfamiliar muscle under his skin and froze. “I just realized that I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing.”

“I thought you said you’vve been doing this for years?” 

“Well, I mean, I have, but only with humans. We may look similar on the outside, but we may have very different musculoskeleture.” Eridan rolled his shoulders again and huffed.

“Wwell, you’re on a muscle right now and it’s sore so there’s fin I guess. Wwe’ll figure out the rest later if we need to.” You shrugged and gently pressed your fingers into his shoulders, pushing forward towards his neck and drawing a small, moaning squeak out of Eridan. It was… actually kind of cute? You fought down the blush threatening to rise on your cheeks because this was also something you were pretty used to, so you shouldn’t be singling out Eridan’s moans. Eridan, however, immediately stiffened below you.

“Eridan, it’s fine.”

“But-”

“I’ve heard sounds much more embarrassing than that, some of them even coming from myself.” He grunted but said nothing. You continued to work his shoulders and he melted between your fingers, at first trying to hold in his groans but then taking your advice and not bothering to hide his pleasure and letting all kinds of little sounds slip between his lips. Now that you had gotten into a rhythm, you found yourself actually able to really observe him. His back was lean and muscular, pocked every now and then with a small stray scar. There were actually four that really caught your attention though, two pairs of lines on either side of his body, resting just over where your assumed his ribcage was. You paused to pour some more oil into your hands before beginning to work your way further down his back, gliding around the edges of his shoulder blades with your thumbs and focusing there for a few moments when you heard some particularly loud groans. 

Eridan turned his head on its side, pointing his horns toward you and allowing you to look at them in detail for the first time—or any troll’s for that matter. Honestly, troll horns fascinated you, but Tavros seemed a little wary to let you touch his. Unlike Tavros’, Eridan’s seemed to be a little more elegant. Then again, he was a royal, so it might have had something to do with that.

You continued down his back, pressing your thumbs into the muscles you could feel on either side of his spine with your fingers spread out to the sides. You grazed the larger scars on his sides, making him shiver and groan a little, but he said nothing about it. Now you had reached his lower back and he was being particularly vocal. You inched up his back with your knuckles, then hooked your fingers and dragged them back down, making him groan again. 

This was actually kind of fun. You were enjoying yourself despite the awkward beginning, and it almost scared you how excited this was making you. You weren’t usually this affected by the reactions of those you massaged, but Eridan was actually starting to get to you. Given, the fact that he was completely naked might be affecting you, but that shiver and the little noise he made earlier was rather enticing, and you wanted to hear it again. You debated on it for a moment while you continued to knead his back before deciding. 

You flattened your hands and dug your thumbs into the muscles next to his spine as you had done higher up and he moaned loudly, but now that you were lower, it was much harder to reach him on the couch. Ow, you think you might have pulled your own muscle reaching over him like this, but that sound was so—dare you say sexy? You had anticipated him still being in shorts or something so you would be able to straddle his back, but if you were going to reach him without hurting yourself, you would either have to all get on the floor so you could prop yourself up on your knees or straddle his bare butt.

“Uhm, hey, Eridan?” You paused in your He hummed in response and turned his head a little to hear you better. “I can’t quite reach you the way I’m sitting right now,” you clasped your hands together in your lap and you felt him shift below you. “Would you be okay with me sitting on your back or would you rather lie down on the floor so i don’t have to twist as much?”

He rolled his shoulders and seemed to think for a moment before looking at you from the corner of his eye. “Are you ok with the first option?” He laughed weakly, “I kinda… don’t wwanna movve.” 

“Yeah, that’s fine. I just wanted to check with you.” You were smiling even though you knew he couldn’t really see you. Damn, why were you so excited for this? You should be feeling so awkward about this--I mean c’mon! You were about to sit on a hot naked guy’s butt so you could massage his back for Christ’s sake! You briefly wondered if you were being so brave because you had been living with a bunch of crazy aliens for the past month, but the thought was gone as quickly as it had appeared.

You grabbed the back of his “loungeplank” to stabilize yourself and placed one foot where you had just been sitting. Eridan scooted away from the back of the couch for you and you wedged your other foot between the back and his hip before mirroring the position on his other side. You lowered yourself onto his lower back, trying your best to stay away from his legs. You may have been feeling a little braver today, but you still had your limits, and that was just a little to forward for your tastes.

Eridan flinched a little as your mostly bare legs pinned his arms to the couch, but he didn’t say anything, instead turning his head so you couldn’t see his face. The violet blush gracing the tips of his ears didn’t escape your notice, however. You felt a swell of pride that you had been the one to cause that as you oiled your hands again and placed them on his back, now in a good position to do what you were going to try earlier.

Once again, you flattened your hands and dug your thumbs into the muscles next to his spine as you had higher up, this time wrapping your fingers around his sides a little and pushing upwards. He moaned as you pressed him into the couch, but when you hit the scars on his ribs he gasped, curling his fingers and arching his back into the couch with a shiver.

Wow, that was amazing. Fuck, now you’re blushing--and hard. You felt a bead of sweat form on your hairline as you moved your hands to his lower back again. He wiggled some, but he didn’t say anything as you went back to the base of his spine. This time when you reached his side scars, he bucked under you when he gasped and grabbed your ankles, burying his face into the couch.

“F-fuck,” he muttered..

You looked up at him, afraid you’d done something wrong. Oh shit, maybe he realized what you were doing. His breath was uneven and he was muttering so you quickly clutched your hands to your chest. When you did so, he squeezed your ankles a little tighter and looked at you over his shoulder with angry, lidded eyes.

“Did I fuckin tell you to stop?”

“E-uh, no I just-”

“Keep going!”

You did as you were told and continued, relieved that he wasn’t mad at you and kind of enjoying the feeling of him wiggling around between your legs. You gathered that he was reacting to your rubbing those scars of his so you focused a little more on those, practically making him blubber. You made the mistake of giggling a little at his reaction. You loved it when you could make people feel good, but this was almost amusing. Unfortunately, he heard your giggle and immediately pulled his arms out from under you and pushed himself up, knocking you off his butt and onto his calves while he glared at you over his shoulders. 

“Wwhat, you think this is funny?!” Oh yes.

“N-no!” You stiffled a laugh at his expression, “I mean yes, but not because you’re enjoying this!” Wait, that’s exactly the reason. “I mean, it is, but not in a malicious way--I think it’s cute!” Both of your faces exploded with color and you stammered, “W-wait, that’s not what I- that’s-eugh!” You tried to crawl off his calves and he tripped forward, both of you scrambling to get away from each other, resulting in the both of you sitting with your arms around your knees to your chests at opposite ends of the couch.

He didn’t say anything.

He just kind of alternated between staring at the floor with a bright violet blush and stealing glances at you.

You didn’t speak either, but you were just _so fucking embarrassed right now._ God, why did you always do this kind of shit to yourself? Why can’t you have normal interactions with members of the different species? You buried your face in your hands and groaned.

“Eridan-”

“_____-”

You both looked at each other for a second before you broke. You just had to laugh at the absurdity of all this. He chuckled weakly alongside you, obviously confused and nervous and just as unsure about all this as you were.

“So,” he started once you’d calmed down, “you really think it’s cute?”

You blushed brightly and refused to look at him. He could be testing you, or trying to embarrass you even more. He probably didn’t like you in any way. Probably.

“I mean, yeah?” You did your best to relax, but it wasn’t really helping much, so you decided to just tough it up and go for it. “Yeah, it’s cute. I mean, personally, I think it’s great whenever I can make someone feel good enough to vocalize it--I just can’t help but laugh! I feel nice making someone else feel nice, and I guess laughing is my way of showing that?” You were still both blushing, but both you and Eridan’s shoulders had dropped some.

“I guess you really do wwanna just help, huh?” You looked over at Eridan to see him looking at the floor between you before meeting your eyes. He seemed embarrassed. The candlelight flickered over his glassy eyes as they darted around the room nervously after holding your gaze for a few moments, but you didn’t want to look away. His blush grew a little and he drew his shoulders up to his ears again, jolting you back to the present.

“Yeah,” you breathed. “I--I do, that’s why I offered.”

Wow, ok, now you were really blushing.

He did a 2X combo sigh/groan and leaned his head back. “Ok,” he said, “I’ll let you continue but--just don’t--don’t go touchin my grubscars anymore. That’s just too much.” 

You cocked your head at him and made a “hmm” noise, not quite understanding what he meant.

“M-my--my grubscars!” He lifted his arm and pointed with his other at the scars on his side that had him making all those wonderful sounds. He blushed furiously and glared at you, “don’t glubbing touch em anymore!”

“But you seemed like you were enjoying it, I don’t follow…” You kinda knew where this was going, but you really didn’t want to stop and if he was going to get you to do that he’d have to at least tell you why. Due to personal reasons. That is, you’re pushing your luck.

“Yeah, I wwas! That’s wwhy I wwant you to stop!” Now he was blushing even more than before somehow, making his face explode with violet. You almost felt bad, but this was starting to get interesting.

“If you liked it, then why would you want me to stop? I’m _supposed_ to be making you feel good, Eridan! You can let yourself be allowed to feel nice every once in a while, you know?”

“That’s not the point!” 

“Then what is?!”

“It--! Ugh,” he covered his face with his hands and rubbed at his eyebrows.

“I just don’t see the problem! If it makes you feel good then why do you wanna stop?!”

He removed his hands and sneered at you. “Alright, fine. You wwanna knoww?! They’re wway too sensitive and I’m gettin turned on! So stop it!”

You stopped, mouth gaping like a fish unable to speak. What do you say to that? You blushed again, even if you already knew the reason, it was still different to hear it out loud. He seemed to realize his blunder and groaned loudly, burying his face in his knees. Shit! You need to fix this fast!

“Well, if it helps… you’re not the only one here feeling like that?” Was that good? Should you have said that? Were you going to regret that??

“Wwhat…?” He carefully lifted his head from his knees a little and squinted at you, still blushing like mad.

“Yeah, I--uh, you’re noises and stuff? They weren’t doing it earlier but--yeah.” You blushed some more if it were even possible and tried your best to shrug off the statement. He stared at you as if he were trying to figure out trigonometry scrawled across your face.

“Ww--no, wwait, wwere you doing it on purpose?!” He looked very angry and flustered all of a sudden and you momentarily feared for your life in an “I’m never going to be able to look him in the eye without wanting to die, am I?” kind of way.

“No! Well, only a little? You seemed to really like it, so I kept going! But you also sounded… really, um--how do I put this? Hot?? I guess???” He pursed his lips and looked away from you, still covered in his violet blush. You were both silent for a few blissful yet tense seconds, neither wanting to break the delicate boundary that hung between you. After a few more seconds, you were about to suggest that you leave when he turned to you again, his eyes glued to the empty couch between you.

“Are you… waxing red? For me?”

You could tell his statement held weight, but you didn’t know what it meant. “I don’t understand…”

He waved a hand dismissively and scowled, “Of course, wwhy wwould you?” He sounded bitter and it stung.

“Please, explain it to me? I want to understand,” you broke your curled up position and reached out towards him cautiously. He looked at your hand as if it would burn him, then between it and your face.

He sighed, turning away. “It’s wwhen you start to pity someone else. But you don’t ‘eel like that towwards me, do you?”

You sat back a little on your feet and thought for a second, retracting your hand. You’re not sure you quite understood the way trolls described their feelings yet, but after spending enough time around Karkat you’d gathered _some_ insight. “I don’t quite think I _pity_ you, per se, but I do care about you, and I _am_ rather attracted to you, y’know?” He flinched at your words a bit, clearly surprised.

"So you don't pity me?"

"No, but I think I may feel the human equivalent." You both blushed at that. It was again silent, but this time it didn't feel as uncomfortable. A little awkward, but with an air of anticipation. It was tempting.

"I… I think I do, too. I thought it wwas black, but I think it really is more red than I gavve you credit.".

You looked over at him, suddenly overcome with emotion. You though he just barely tolerated you! Yeah, he was hot as fuck, but you never thought he'd actually, y'know, reciprocate--in any sense of the word!

Eridan rolled his shoulder a little, breaking the silence, "You knoww, you nevver did finish gettin that knot outta my shoulder." He looked over at you, his violet blush clear on his cheeks, a small, tentative--dare you even say cocky--smile cracking his lips.

"I take it you'd like for me to finish?" You couldn't help but nervously smile back as you moved a little closer to him, now cautiously touching his upper arm. He nodded quickly with a newfound resolution and sat up, turning to face his back to you, and tilted his head to expose his shoulder. 

He glanced at you over it at you, a small smirk playing on his face, “Do your wworst,” he said, and you had to fight the blush on your cheeks that threatened to burn you alive at the implications considering the recent confessions.

You looked down at his exposed neck and shoulder, your eyes eagerly drawn to the sharp turn of his neck into the gentle slope of his shoulder, the way his wet gills reflected the candlelight in the room. A devious thought crossed your mind and you couldn’t help but smile at yourself. Well, he _did_ say to do your worst, after all, and who were you but to oblige him?

You turned his face away from yours and reached to the floor as if you were going to rub some more oil on your hands, but instead of pouring any oil onto your hands, you quietly opened your mouth and solidly placed it over the crook of his neck, making him suck in a bunch of air with the most startling noise you’ve ever heard. It was something between a gasp and a hiccup, ad judging by the blush that immediately surfaced under his jaw and the flaring of his gills, it certainly wasn't unwelcome. You saw his eyes flutter shut when you started to work your mouth against his cool skin, clearly tasting the olive oil you had rubbed over him earlier. You dared to graze your comparatively dull teeth over his neck and your gut stuttered at the low whine he made. In a daring move, you brought your hands up to his lower back and braced your fingers against his sides while rubbing slow circles into the muscles on either side of his spine, eliciting another groan from him. He gasped at your touch, arching his back into your thumbs. He dropped his head back against your shoulder, narrowly missing your face with his horns, but the blissed look on his own was more than enough to forgive him.

“M… More,” he mumbled. You drew your mouth away from his neck, barely removing your hands as well, making him whine with displeasure. You knew you were pushing your luck here, but you couldn’t help yourself, especially not in your current position.

“Come on now, is that any way to ask for something?” you murmured sweetly in his ear. You traced light circles over his sides, making him shiver a little. 

“Please, please--more,” he reached back and gripped your knee in one hand and scrabbled a little at the scars on his ribs with the other, drawing a little bit of blood from your knee with how hard he gripped it.

You hissed low into his ear, then placed one hand over the one fiddling with his scars and held it still, giving the other set a firm stroke with your free hand. He shuddered in your arms, now laying more of his weight onto you. You breathed heavily over his gills and littered dainty kisses over them before taking the skin under his jaw into your mouth and giving it a light suck. He keened at the pressure and removed his claws from your knee, making you groan into the purple hickey you were giving him. You pressed your chest into his back and started moving your hand over his, making him touch his own scars under your fingers. A low, chittering started rumbling in the back of his throat and you couldn’t deny that it really turned you on. 

By now, his hips had started to thrust upwards into the air a bit and you realized that he probably had something else you could be paying attention to. You started edging the hand not holding his own down towards his hips, making him gasp lightly. The second you reached his groin, you felt something slimt touch the tips of your fingers and then immediately snake around your hand, drawing you closer. He cried out at the contact, lurching his ribs into his own fingers and bucking into yours with his hips. You cautiously stroked it, feeling the way it curled between your fingertips, and Eridan keened once again into you, turning his head to tuck it into your neck. As you continued to steadily add more pressure, he started to sloppily reciprocate, trying his best to kiss at your neck but doing little other than tickling you. You turned your own head slightly to meet his lips and he kissed you greedily. He didn’t seem to be very good at it, but you didn’t really think he would be when you seemed to be stimulating him so much.

You then realized between his moans and chittering that his free hand was lightly tugging at the hem of your tank top and trying his best to rub your bare sides while facing away from you. Reluctantly, you pulled away from him, making him while pitifully, but you wagged a gentle finger at his blissed face.

“Wwha-?” When he realized what you were doing, he leapt to attention, turning around and trying to lift it over your shoulders for you. As soon as it was gone, he was immediately on your chest, feeling over every inch of skin he could reach. It was strange having someone else’s hands on you, especially as he lowered your back to the cushions. He started leaving kisses long your collarbone and you felt the whine in the back of your throat before you actually heard it. He chuckled a little at the sound, then the bright blush that erupted on your cheeks.

“I thought you said not to be embarrassed by the noises you made?” he crooned in your ear. You brought your hands up to cover your eyes but he stopped you, taking them by the wrists and holding them over your head. He glanced down at you on his way, silently asking your permission and you steeled yourself and nodded despite the crushing embarrassment you felt. You gripped the couch where he released your hands and he went back to feeling your now exposed torso, run in a thumb over your left nipple. He paid special attention to your navel, making you giggle loudly at one point, and at first you didn’t realize why he stayed there for a bit until you looked down and noticed that he didn’t have a belly button. 

“Not there,” you murmured into his lips, taking one of his hands and guiding it to your head. You laced his fingers through your hair and let go, then doing the same with his head and giving it a gentle tug. He groaned against your cheek and found your lips again, taking the hint and tugging at your hair in the most amazing way. His tongue tan against your lips and you opened ours in response, welcoming him in with vigor. You didn't battle with each other as you had expected, though. No, it was gentle, sweet. You danced together, a delicate waltz of pent-up feelings and lust. It warmed your heart, and you hoped he felt the same. God, no one had ever made you feel so nice before, and you happily whined into the kiss, making Eridan smirk against your lips. One of his hands drifted down to your waistband and your hips bucked at the contact. He curled his claws delicately over your hip and you couldn't help but let a giggle tumble free in response. He smiled at you, and while you couldn't really tell if it was more loving or mischievous, you knew by the cold drip of his bulge against your thigh you were in for a good time.

You lifted your hips, doing your best to help him wiggle them down your legs, and he threw them over his shoulder with little care to where they landed. You sat up with him, suddenly very aware that you were now only left in your underwear and blushed brightly. He gently raised a hand to your cheek and cupped your head, placing a chaste kiss on your now swollen lips. 

"I'm glad you offered to kelp me relax, y'knoww," he drifted to your neck and you "hmm"ed, "but noww I think you're the one needin to relax." You whimpered as he kissed at your neck, now much more focused than the first time. You could feel the points of his teeth graze over your tendons and a part of you wanted him to bite down with all the force he could muster, but the sensible side of you rather enjoyed having blood, not to mention the thrill of him being so gentle with you was making your head spin.

You nodded against his head, bringing up a hand to hold the nape of his neck and keep him next to a particularly tender spot. 

"Ah- Eridan, t-there," you mewled, gripping your knees together and curling your toes. He sucked and nipped at the spot, then kissed it gently before licking a stripe from your collarbone to your jaw. "Ah!" You laughed and pushed him off of you, giving you the space to see the clearly cheeky look on his face. You placed your hands on his thighs and leaned forward, picking him on the nose before tracing a hand down his chest towards his dripping bulge. 

He tensed and bit his lip, letting his eyes slide closed as our wrapped your hand around it again. This time, when you kissed at his neck, you tried your best to leave little bites along his throat, away from his gills. He shivered and moaned, bringing up a hand to cup your ass, then using it to tug at the waistline of your underwear. He pulled them down to your knees before you had to kick them off yourself, and he cracked his eyes open and whined until you returned to him, your hands already covered in a film of slippery violet--well, you assumed it was precum, anyway. You brought your hand to your face, then tentatively stuck out your tongue and tasted it, making him blush madly as he leaned back onto the cushions and started rubbing his grubscars again. It wasn't sweet like sugar, but it did have the idea of sweetness behind it, almost like how cinnamon wasn't sweet but still reminded you of dessert. It was, however, tangy, and overall reminded you of hibiscus. You sucked on your fingers loudly, drawing attention to yourself by grasping his bulge in your free hand and crawling over his thighs. He looked up at you with lidded eyes and groaned at the sight, not daring to look away while you slurped it up, removing your lazy finger with a quiet "Pop!"

"You still sure about this?" You lifted your hands from his body, making sure you showed more than want on your face. 

"Please, don't make me go doubtin myself right noww." His eyes screwed shut as his bulge started twisting against itself, looking for something to stimulate it. "I wwant this, please. I knoww I'm a bulge a lot of the time, but I do, I really do," he opened his eyes and for a brief moment, you searched them. 

All you could see was affection.

You leaned down and kissed him, taking his bulge into your hand and pumping it a few times. His back arched and he whined below you, making you slick with want.

"Fuck, you're so pretty," you mumbled, and he whined again in response. You reached your other hand down by the one currently occupied with his bulge, intent on fondling his balls, but you were mildly surprised to find slick lips there. He shuddered at your touch and you dipped a finger between his folds, making his breath catch a little. He gripped your shoulder and his inner walls hugged against your skin, making you blush. You did that. You caused him to feel like that. A swell of pride filled your chest as you added another finger, slowly curing them against his soft muscle until you found a spot that made him open his mouth in a low mean. You pumped and curled, trying to draw him closer to an edge you could feel was coming, when he stopped you with some insistent pats on your arms. 

He rolled to his side and uncaptchalogued a metal bucket, placing it on the floor. "Wwe'll need it," he garbled, then flipped back over and sat up, sitting on the couch the way it was intended. 

You continued your ministrations, adding another digit when he muttered a sloppy "More" against your lips. In a few moments, he was shuddering in your grasp, then scooting to the edge of the couch to hang over the bucket, bringing you along with him in his lap. 

"Gonna--'m gonna cum," he slurred, and you nodded, slightly confused by his movements. He scrunched his eyebrows together and held one hand against your lower back, and then your crotch was suddenly drenched in fluid. He let out a stuttering moan and curled his fingers against your back, letting his head drop to his chest as he did. You heard the violet fluid pouring from his bulge land in the bucket, not like water but more like cream. You laughed to yourself, thinking it rather fitting, and then kissed his neck. It was a bit of an odd feeling, being so thoroughly waterlogged, but it wasn't unpleasant either. He met your lips again and let out a breath when you broke apart, eyes still glazed in bliss.

"Feel better?" you asked. 

"Much." 

**Author's Note:**

> I know reader didn't get off, but I'm thinking of continuing this with another chapter. Let me know it you want some more ;)
> 
> Check out my tumblr at https://the-weird-one-won.tumblr.com!


End file.
